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News
Release
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey |
Address
NH/VT District
361 Commerce Way
Pembroke, NH 03275 |
Release
October 10, 2002 |
Contact
Debra Foster |
Phone
603-226-7837 |
Fax
603-226-7894 |
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HOPKINTON—To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Clean
Water Act, the U.S. Geological Survey will be demonstrating local
stream and water-quality data collection and on-going monitoring
efforts in New Hampshire on National Water Monitoring Day, October
18, 2002. The demonstrations will be held in Hopkinton, N.H. at
10:00 am at the USGS Contoocook River stream-gaging station on Rt.
127 just downstream of the Hopkinton Dam. Students from a local
community school will be joining the USGS to help collect samples
For directions to the station, visit the NH/VT District Web site
at http://nh.water.usgs.gov/gauge_station/directions.htm.
This event is free and open to the public.
National Water Monitoring Day is a nationwide program created
to mark the 30th anniversary of the initial passage of
the Clean Water Act. The effort is coordinated by America’s
Clean Water Foundation, in cooperation with several other environmental
groups and governmental agencies across the country.
USGS is excited to join thousands of volunteers and water-resource
professionals across the country to sample the quality of our waters.
To accomplish this important task, our USGS staff will be on hand
to help test the waters and to serve as resource guides for others
who join this effort. While comprehensive monitoring goes on all
year, never before has such an event been scheduled to occur on
one day across the nation.
'One of the important lessons learned from the past 30 years is
the need for grassroots participation in caring for the natural
resources that benefit us locally," said Robert M. Hirsch, USGS's
Associate Director for Water. Government efforts alone are no longer
enough. What each of us doe on a daily basis affects water quality.
Impacts of pollutionupstream in a river can adversely affect people
hundreds of miles downstream. All citizens are part of the solution.
This is why the national monitoring partnership of the public, state
and local governments, and federal agencies is so important.”
The day’s efforts will be relatively easy and fun to carry
out. Routine measurements will be collected in the field, including
for dissolved oxygen, pH (acidity), turbidity/clarity, andtemperature.
USGS and other experienced monitors will complete some of the more
technical analyses such as magnitude and velocity of stream flow.
To learn more about National Water Monitoring Day activities,
contact Debra Foster at (603) 226-7837 or visit the USGS Web site
at http://nh.water.usgs.gov.
Visit the Year of Clean Water website www.yearofcleanwater.org
to learn more about other Year of Clean Water activities.
USGS scientists
will be collecting water quality samples and making streamflow
measurements of the Contoocook River as these scientists are
doing in this photograph. |
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